The present disclosure relates in general to computer systems and in particular, to extending the recovery and reporting ranges of objects in systems that maintain limited historical information.
Computer systems that operate database server products, messaging system products, and other network server products typically generate historical log files. Such log files are useful for certain reporting applications. Moreover, the log files provide an opportunity to recover previous versions of critical information, such as to revert back to a previous version or a previous state of operation. In this regard, a system may generate and store numerous log files. In order to manage these log files, a system can use a specific file that serves as a manifest of the log files that have been generated.
In practical implementations, it is often necessary to limit the size of individual log files. For instance, a log file may be size-limited to correspond with the longest unit of work in an application program that generates the events to be recorded in the log file. As another example, a log file may be size-limited due to the available space of a destination that the log file is copied to for backup, e.g., to avoid space abends when writing the log file. Thus, for instance, the backup medium may be a limiting factor in the selection of the log file size.